Lost cheated last week.
I caught on to the Jin flashback within the Sun forward pretty early on. At least I was pretty sure of it. But I also thought to myself, “self, if this is a flashback and nothing really relevant happens to Jin within it, nothing that pertains to the island or Jin’s character in a major way and it turns out they’re doing this merely to play with our head and divert us to make the episode better and more surprising than it really was, than damn it self that’ll be a case of shenannigans and I’m going to have to call them on it.”
So here we are.
There was just no reason to show a Jin flashback there. He’s getting a Panda for Mr Paik’s client? Who cares. It’s not relevant. It’s a cheat to hide Jin’s death or stranding from us until the end of the episode. I think you have to maintain an internal logic and consistency within this whole flashback/ flash-forward thing in order for it to work. And they violated that internal consistency. They broke the rules. They sort of did it with a dead Naomi flashback earlier this season but that was minor and some part of her might have been alive and aware (and by the way where was her body when the copter landed), but they went too far this time. For one we don’t gracefully fwooop into his flashbacks. He’s not even on screen before and after some of them. THis violates the established rule of Lost’s version of the dissolve or wipe that leads into a back or forward flash.
There were even times they went directly from a Sun flash forward into a Jin flashback.
THis is perhaps one of the 10 most heinous wrongs committed in the history of civilization. It’s real wrong. I’d rank it somewhere between the Holocaust and Pam Ewing’s dream.
George Herbert and Barbara Bush having sex and procreating is number 1.
Now I get that Lost is playing with time and our perception of it. Within that context lies the only way to rationalize the atrocity they committed last Thursday. THere are many pasts. futures, and now even presents existing in a very real and vivid way to us the audience and probably to the characters as well.
And it was a sad reveal at the end. I had that “No not Chewy,” moment and issued salty discharge as they probably wanted me to. It’s that damn sad piano thing they play at those moments. Of course upon reflection a few minutes after the show I realized this didn’t mean Jin was dead. Just dead to her and the rest of the world. He could be back on the island. The grave said 9-22-04 for a date of death. So his death is part of the official story encompassing everyone else on that plane’s “death.”
I do have to say that if he is alive Sun’s kind of a bitch going along with things and not actively raising a ruckus to get him back. And actually having a commemorative grave to visit and talk to him seems more likely a scenario if he’s dead. But there just wasn’t enough info to be sure one way or the other.
Unfortunately we are all too aware that someone dies next week. This could be Jin. But I think killing him 2 weeks in a row is just engaging in too many shenanigans and I trust them not to do that. I’d say Claire and Desmond are the 2 most likely to go. I think I wrote about my reasons on des after the The Constant episode. And he appears to be featured in this weeks episode which will be centered around the freighter and Michael/Kevin.
If this happens it may be too much to bear. I’m far more ready to let Claire go. Have Kurtz take her out because she doesn’t want to drink anymore of the Kool-Aid served up in Camp Lockedown, Hurley scream “You suck dude,” grab Aaron and take him to KAte’s to be psychotically raised by Princess Headgames herself. I’ll be ok with that. I’ll mourn Claire in my own way. And I will move on.
If it’s Desmond I will have to reevaluate a lot of things about myself. And Lost.
I suppose I can’t rule out a Bernard, Rose, or Sawyer death. Sawyer being the least likely though he may be primed since he’s in his Han Solo in Return Of The Jedi neutered stage that’s just so wonderful to watch.
And I’m guessing Michael will be a flashback. Guess it could go either way. But we really need to know where he’s been lately, not where he’s going just yet.
Back to last week.
I’m guessing Jin lives.
The show still wasn’t bad. It just felt like they cheated and went for the emotion a bit dishonestly. And they didn’t even pull it off that well because it was pretty apparent something was up in his flashbacks between the old cell phone and the over the top contrivance of him suposedly trying to get to Sun in time even as we see of no contact between the two.
Now if they pulled this off while staying consistent to the back/forward conceit and finding a way to do jin’s fb’s separate from Sun’s FF’s and while haveing them both in the same place at all times so we could look back and see that the dissolve/wipe fwoop device could have been from either perspective, we would have been on our way to greatness. If they then could have had a major reveal that’s true to itself in Jin’s fb then we would be at greatness. But the only reveal was that he’s in the past just 2 months married. It’s only import is to the viewer as a sort of “gotcha,” rather than having an import to the story as well. Not sure what they could have done. Not saying we have to see Jin meeting with Dharma agents in 2000 and finding out he’s in on things. But maybe having Charles Widmore involved with Paik and having Jin stumble onto something he doesn’t get the import of but we do knowing who Widmore is.
Something like that would have sealed the deal.
As it was it was a cheat.
Still a decent episode that wrought some nice emotion and caused me to feel some of the pathos and emotion I was supposed to feel. So kudos there.
They just cheated to get it.
Don’t do it again. It reeks of desperation getting too caught up in the largesse and novely of the new bac/forward flash dynamic.
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